android.print

Overview

Provides classes for implementing print support in applications and also contains all
base classes and abstractions involved in printing. These base classes are also used
by other more specialized printing related packages.

The entry point for interacting with the print system is the PrintManager
which is a system service that can be obtained from the current context. The print manager
provides APIs for printing, querying the state of print jobs, etc.

Print contract

An application that wants to implement printing must extend
PrintDocumentAdapter which defines the contract between the system
and the application.The key idea behind this adapter is that the printed content may change
based on the selected print options, such as media size, orientation, which
requires the content to be re-laid out. The constraints according to which the content has
to be laid out are encapsulated in the PrintAttributes class. Once
layout is completed the application calls back to the system passing a
PrintDocumentInfo instance which describes the generated content. After
the content has been laid out the application may be asked to render some pages of that content
for preview or printing. The range of pages that have to be rendered is abstracted by the
PageRange class.

Print jobs

A print job is represented by the PrintJob class which has behavior
methods as well as methods for querying its state. Each print job has a unique id represented
by the PrintJobId class and exposes APIs for obtaining a PrintJobInfo which is a snapshot of its state. The print job state may
change over time.

Printers

An available printer represented by the PrinterInfo class has a
unique id which is abstracted by the PrinterId class. The PrinterInfo contains printer properties such as id, name, description, status,
and printer capabilities encapsulated in the PrinterCapabilitiesInfo
class. Printer capabilities describe how a printer can print content, for example what are
the supported media sizes, color modes, resolutions, etc.